Rhetorical Devices in the Gettysburg Address

Mrs. Ts English 10
What is a Rhetorical Device?
A use of language that creates a literary effect
A technique used in language to convey ideas and messages in a
persuasive way.
A use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience.
Repetition, figurative language, and even rhetorical questions are
all examples of rhetorical devices.
Allusion
A reference within a literary work to another famous literary work, work
of art, or historical event.
Example:
She was breathtakingly beautiful, but he knew that she was
forbidden fruit.
Find at least one allusion in the text of the speech. Then, label next to
it what historical literary source is being alluded to.
Funeral oration/ Eulogy
In this type of speech, the speaker provides praise for the dead with
advice for the living.
In the text of the speech, draw boxes around the portion of the
speech that includes praise for the dead and advice for the living
New Life
In contrast to the theme of death, Lincoln carefully chose words that
relate to new life. Highlight three words, which have a connotation
of new life.
Parallelism
This device uses a repetition of a grammatical structure for effect.
Example:
"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are
wrong, you cannot be too conservative."(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"New roads; new ruts."(G. K. Chesterton)
Put asterisks (*) next to two sentences that demonstrate parallelism.
Antithesis
The placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another opposing
sentence (or part) in order to form a balanced contrast of ideas.
Example:
Give me liberty, or give me death

 Put a star next to a sentence that demonstrates antithesis.

Asyndeton
A lack of conjunctions (for, and but, your, nor, so, etc.) between
phrases of the beginning of a phrase or clause for effect.
Examples:
He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac."
(Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1957)
"Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click, Pic, Look, Eye, Now,
Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How,
Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong,
Boom!"(Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, 1953)
Highlight and label the sentence where asyndeton is evident.
271 Words
Lincolns speech is masterful in what it says, but also genius in what
has been left out!
Words are chosen carefully to make powerful statements without
lengthy descriptions.
Remarkably, the speech only contains 271 words, and lasted less than
two minutes!
At the bottom of the speech, answer the following:
How many times does Lincoln use the words Union,
Confederacy, North or South?
What does he call us?
How many details and statistics of the battle of
Gettysburg are included?
How many times does he use the world nation?